SAN FRANCISCO - Flush with cash from its sale of Alibaba Group stock, Yahoo looks set to pour some of it into Snapchat, according to reports in The Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail in Toronto.
The San Francisco-based online messaging app - which allows users to share photos and videos with others for a short set amount of time before they automatically delete -- would be valued at $10 billion. That's up from a $3 billion just last year, when Facebook expressed interest in buying the company.
A $10 billion valuation would make Snapchat one of the year's big successes in a year of soaring tech valuations typified by ride sharing app Uber, now valued at $17 billion. Snapchat has 100 million users worldwide, who send seven times that number of videos and photos daily.
Snapchat CEO and co-founder Evan Spiegel at Venice, CA headquarters.(Photo: Jefferson Graham USAT)
Yahoo and Snapchat representatives declined comment.
Founded in 2011 by CEO Evan Spiegel, now 24, and a group of friends, Snapchat's booming growth reflects that of mobile messaging and communications apps at large. In February, Facebook plunked down $19 billion for WhatsApp, a deal that on Friday cleared major regulatory hurdles in Europe.
For Yahoo, leading a Snapchat round comes at a time when CEO Marissa Mayer - who realized $5 billion after the company's $1 billion investment in Alibaba in 2005 - looks to reinvigorate one of the Web's oldest names with a range of strategic acquisitions. In 2014 alone, Yahoo has either bought or invested in more than a dozen companies in the video streaming and mobile messaging space.
FILE JUNE 30, 2014: Television series Community was canceled by NBC in May 2014 citing low ratings despite its cult status. It was announced on June 30, 2014 that the series would be picked up for a sixth season to air on Yahoo Screen in the fall. Show creator Dan Harmon will executive produce the 13 new episodes. WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 17: Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer speaks onstage at the FORTUNE Most Powerful Women Summit on October 17, 2013 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for FORTUNE) ORG XMIT: 184815946 ORIG FILE ID: 185055655(Photo: Paul Morigi)
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Posted by Unknown on Friday, October 3, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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